MONTEREY PARK, Calif.-- The CSU Bakersfield men's and women's swimming teams wrapped up the A3 Performance Invitational on Saturday with another full day of competition. The Roadrunners saw several more personal bests drop in Southern California and gained great momentum heading into the second half of their season.
After the third and final day of competition, Chris Hansen, Bakersfield's Director of Swimming, was proud of both of his squads: “The women had a really great meet. It's fun to see this team get better every year. I truly think this is one of the best men's teams we have had in a long time. That being said, we are really young and have to mature in the water a little more.”
“Lovre Soric's 200 back this morning in the prelims was fast,” Hansen said of his sophomore's performance. “Once we rest and shave him, he is going to shock a lot of people in the event.” Soric finished the preliminary heat in one minute, 47.26 seconds, less than one second off of the his personal best. The Croatian's time was also good enough to finish fifth in the prelim on Saturday.
Hansen was also impressed with Mario Vasquez's finish in the 200 back (1:50.82). The sophomore from El Centro, Calif. lowered his personal best and Hansen had high praises for Vasquez: “He is one of the hardest workers on this team and deserves it. Greg Lee also swimming a best time in the 200 breast is something this team really needs.” Lee finished the race in 2:09.66, a new PR, to finish 19th in the final Saturday night.
“We had a great time and had some great swims this weekend,” said Hansen. “Having two men's relays DQ is not great. We have some time to fix a few issues before the WAC Championships.”
On the women's side, Hansen praised freshman Sabrina Zavala's meet after she cracked the CSUB Top 5 in the 1650 free on Saturday: “Sabrina really impressed me this entire meet. She showed how tough she can be in the mile today. The WAC could be in for a shock.” Zavala's time of 17:17.01 was good enough for second at the A3 invite and fifth all-time for CSUB.
Bakersfield's Director of Swimming also had rave reviews and bold predictions for two of his breaststrokers: “Dylana Milobar and Summer D'Arcy are both off best times. Both of these ladies will break the school record this year. No doubt.” Milobar finished the 200 breast in 13th during Saturday's prelim with a season-best time of 2:20.42, less than one second off the CSUB record. D'Arcy, a freshman, posted a time of 2:23.23 in the prelim in an impressive showing.
“Paola Hernandez and Kelsey Lange, along with Chrisy Vo, are showing the WAC that we are going to continue to dominate the 100 free,” Hansen said. Lange and Hernandez finished first and second at the WAC Championships a year ago, respectively, while the trio posted another set of strong times this weekend. Hernandez finished sixth on Saturday with a season-best time of 51.31, Lange came in 14th at 51.56, and Vo was close behind in 23rd after swimming a personal best 51.95 in the morning's prelim.
The women's 400 free relay team just missed out on cracking the CSUB Top 5 Saturday night. The quartet of Nicolette Goncalves, Lange, Hernandez, and Vo posted a time of 3:26.53, just a half second outside of the school's Top 5 list.
CSUB's men finished the meet in seventh of eight highly-competitive teams. The women were ninth of eleven in a field which featured some of the nation's strongest squads. The 'Runner men and women will be off from competition until Dec. 12 when both the men and women will head to Riverside, Calif. to face Cal Baptist in a dual.
~GoRunners.com~
